In the News

Dr. St. Laurent discusses the RESHAPE BALLOON on Great Day Houston

New Test Can Predict Your Risk for Obesity

The sooner medical professionals are able to diagnose an individual with a disease, the quicker they are able to provide treatment, and the better the chances are of the individual recovering. There are products that are currently in development that may make it even easier for you to determine your risk of disease sooner. This research is being pioneered by a group of obesity researchers who have identified markers in urine called metabolites that can predict a person’s chances of being obese in the future.

Scientists are excited about this research because some feel that this test will provide a better indication of a person’s risk for disease than their genes. This is because your genes only account for approximately 1.4 percent of your potential health.

Of course, there are a lot of different things that can cause a person to gain weight. These things include a person’s genetics, the speed of their metabolism, bacteria they have in the stomach, and of course lifestyle choices they make, such as whether or not they will exercise and what types of food they will consume. However, the urine test is designed to focus primarily on the way a person’s diet influences stomach bacteria and their weight.

The study, which was later published in Science Translational Medicine, looked at 2,300 adults who were in good health for 21 days. Throughout this period, researchers looked at their diet, their exercise habits, their BMI, and their blood pressure. Samples of urine were collected from each participant. By analyzing the urine sample, researchers found 29 different metabolites, or byproducts of the metabolic process, that had a strong connection to a person’s weight. Nine of them showed a direct link to a higher than average BMI.

Researchers believe that by looking at the metabolites that are present in obese people, they can find a similar pattern in individuals who are of a normal weight but currently have an unhealthy diet and are not yet experiencing weight gain.

Jeremy Nicholson who served as a co-author of the study and who is the Head of the Imperial College of London’s Department of Surgery and Cancer, said that the result of this study indicates that the bugs found in the human stomach and the way these bugs interact with the food we eat plays a 3 to 4 times greater role in obesity than our genetic background.

In addition to helping individuals identify a higher risk for obesity, Peter LePort, a medical doctor at the Memorial Care Center for obesity in Orange County, California believes that showing people the negative and the positive effects their diet is having on them can serve as a motivational tool and potentially help individuals who are at risk for obesity change their eating habits before these lead to potentially dangerous extra pounds.

Helping people know exactly why they are gaining weight will not only help doctors and researchers, but it will also help the everyday person looking to lose weight. This would allow them to receive dietary recommendations based not on the general population, but instead on their own metabolism. Unfortunately, right now, personalized metabolism based tests are not currently available. However, scientists are hopeful that these tests will be available to the general population soon.

New study data show that obesity is strongly correlated with an advanced epigenetic age of liver tissue.

“This is the first study that evaluated the effect of body weight on the biological ages of a variety of human tissues,” Steve Horvath, PhD, ScD, professor of human genetics at David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a press release. “Given the obesity epidemic in the Western world, the results of this study are highly relevant for public health.”

Obesity in a pregnant woman may increase the risk that her children will be born with congenital abnormalities of the kidney and urinary tract, research shows. Congenital abnormalities of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT) are diagnosed in up to 1% of pregnancies and account for 20% to 30% of prenatal abnormalities.

New research from Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) bolsters evidence that exposure to tobacco smoke and near-roadway air pollution contribute to the development of obesity.

The study, to be posted online in Environmental Health Perspectives, shows increased weight gain during adolescence in children exposed to second hand tobacco smoke or near-roadway air pollution, compared to children with no exposure to either of these air pollutants. The study is one of the first to look at the combined effects on body mass index of exposure to both near-roadway air pollution and tobacco smoke. The effects were substantially greater in children exposed to both air pollutant mixtures than to either alone.

In a study of middle-aged men who were overweight, researchers found that if a man’s parents were older at the time of his birth, he was more likely to have lower blood pressure, more favorablecholesterol levels, and improved glucose metabolism.

It’s unknown whether the beneficial effect was due to having an older mother, an older father, or both.

Additional studies are necessary to help shed light on the effects of parental age at childbirth on the metabolism of men and women.

Bariatric surgery declined by more than half of obese patients, even when publicly funded
Source: Medical News Today

Men and seniors – those who may benefit the most from a weight loss operation are among the most likely to forego having the procedure performed even though payment is not an issue.

Researchers from the University Health Network in Toronto are hoping to improve the operational efficiency of bariatric surgery programs to increase access to care. Studies have shown that bariatric operations can alleviate chronic health issues like diabetes and arthritis for extremely obese people. Now the University Health Network researchers are trying to determine why many patients who are referred for a bariatric operation do not ultimately have the procedure performed, despite being in a publicly FUNDED health care program. Findings from their single-site study are published in the November issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

The number of bariatric surgeries done each year in the United States has ballooned. Now, in an August 27 state-of-the-art review in The BMJ and a September 3 editorial in JAMA, David Arterburn, MD, MPH, weighs the evidence on the benefits and risks of the various types of this surgery.

“It’s critical that we find effective—and cost-effective—ways to treat severe obesity,” said Dr. Arterburn, an associate investigator at Group Health Research Institute, a Group Health physician, and an affiliate associate professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Weight-loss surgery appears to have an additional side benefit — it may improve urinary incontinence symptoms in women, according to a new study.

The study found that nearly half of women in a weight-loss surgery program reported having incontinence prior to the procedure. After surgery, most of those women said their urinary symptoms either improved or disappeared, said study researcher Dr. Leslee Subak, professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.

Being overweight or obese may increase the risk of developing 10 of the most common cancers. This is according to a new study recently published in The Lancet.
Being overweight or obese may increase the risk of 10 of the most common cancers, including womb, gallbladder and kidney cancers.

Overweight and obesity is a global health concern. In the US, more than 69% of adults aged 20 years or over are overweight or obese. Similar numbers are found in the UK, where around 62% of individuals aged 16 or over are overweight or obese.

Change in type of procedure most commonly used for bariatric surgery
Source:ScienceDaily

In an analysis of the type of bariatric surgery procedures used in Michigan in recent years, sleeve gastrectomy (SG) surpassed Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) in 2012 as the most common procedure performed for patients seeking this type of surgery, and SG became the predominant bariatric surgery procedure for patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a study.

Patients who underwent weight loss operations in recent years, when most bariatric surgical centers were accredited, had fewer postoperative complications and were 2.3 times less likely to die in the hospital than patients who had bariatric procedures performed before a national movement toward facility accreditation was taking place, according to new study findings. Study authors, who published their results in the September issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, say these findings suggest that accreditation of bariatric surgery centers contributes to improved safety for patients who undergo weight loss operations and saves lives.

Weight loss following bariatric surgery leads to improved brain function, could reduce risk of Alzheimer’s in obese people
Source:MedicalNewsToday

Weight loss surgery can curb alterations in brain activity associated with obesity and improve cognitive function involved in planning, strategizing and organizing, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

Rise in Obesity More About Inactivity Than Caloric Intake
Source:PTinMotion

It’s no news that Americans have become more obese during the past 15 years, but a new study adds an interesting perspective—the dramatic gains may be almost entirely due to lack of physical activity, and not an increase in caloric intake.

High body mass index (BMI) is associated with multiple cardiovascular diseases. However, emerging data suggest that there is an “obesity paradox,” that being overweight may actually protect patients from cardiovascular mortality. Investigators have now confirmed that the risk of total mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and myocardial infarction is highest among underweight patients, while cardiovascular mortality is lowest among overweight patients, according to two reports published today in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Using experimental models, researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) showed that adenosine, a metabolite released when the body is under stress or during an inflammatory response, stops the process of adipogenesis, when adipose (fat) stem cells differentiate into adult fat cells.

The number of children who are obese remains alarmingly high in the U.S. and, unfortunately, diseases associated with obesity are on the rise. Worried about their overweight children, many parents wonder if other diagnoses, such as hypothyroidism, could be the reason behind their child’s weight gain. But according to experts more often than not the underlying issues are more strongly influenced by environmental factors, such as largely sedentary lifestyle or a caloric intake.

Scientists are a step closer to understanding why diabetes is cured in the majority of patients that undergo gastric bypass surgery. “Our research centered on enteroendocrine cells that ‘taste’ what we eat and in response release a cocktail of hormones that communicate with the pancreas, to control insulin release to the brain, to convey the sense of being full and to optimize and maximize digestion and absorption of nutrients,” said the study’s team leader.

Non-Hispanic white patients who underwent a gastric bypass procedure lost slightly more weight over a three-year period than Hispanic or black patients, according to study. The study also examined two types of bariatric surgery and found that patients who underwent the now common gastric bypass procedure lost more weight over the same period than patients who underwent the more recently developed vertical sleeve gastrectomy procedure.

Weight-loss surgery may do more than lower the risk of heart problems and improve type 2 diabetes in obese patients: A new review suggests it may also lower their chances of a cancer diagnosis. The report was published in the journal Obesity Surgery.

Compared to diet and lifestyle changes, gastric bypass surgery appears to be the clear winner in helping obese people with type 2 diabetes lose weight and even rid themselves of the disease, according to a pair of studies published online June 4 in JAMA Surgery.

Adults with Type 2 diabetes achieve better blood glucose (sugar) control two years after undergoing laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy than do patients who receive standard medical diabetes care without this weight loss surgery, a new study finds. The results were presented Monday at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society: ICE/ENDO 2014 in Chicago.

Much has been reported about the potential for increased risk of alcohol misuse after weight loss surgery (WLS), with most theories pointing to lower alcohol tolerance and a longer time to return to a sober state after surgery, but a new study from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center suggests that upwards of half of high-risk drinkers are actually less likely to report high-risk drinking behavior after weight loss surgery.

Gastric surgery reduces heart attack risk in obese people
Source:News Medical
Obese people who have stomach surgery to help them lose weight will halve their risk of heart attack according to new research from a team of doctors at the University of East Anglia, University of Manchester and University of Aberdeen.
The procedures, known as bariatric surgery, involve techniques such as gastric banding, which are available on the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK for selected patients.

Weight-loss surgery not only helps obese people drop pounds, but it may also prevent the dangerous heart rhythm disorder known as atrial fibrillation, according to new research.
Scientists from the Mayo Clinic found that significantly fewer patients who underwent weight-loss surgery, also known as “bariatric” surgery, developed atrial fibrillation—a rapid and irregular heartbeat—than those who didn’t have weight-loss surgery. Atrial fibrillation affects more than 2.7 million American adults.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center report that bariatric surgery resulting in dramatic weight loss in formerly severely obese women reduces the risk of endometrial (uterine) cancer by 71 percent and as much as 81 percent if normal weight is maintained after surgery.

New ammunition in the fight against Type 2 diabetes
Source:Medical News Today
Gastric banding can play a vital role in the treatment of type 2 diabetes in people who are overweight but not obese, according to new research.
The Monash University study, led by Emeritus Professor Paul O’Brien and Dr John Wentworth from the Centre for Obesity Research and Education (CORE), has determined that weight loss surgery (gastric banding) for overweight people with diabetes had a profound impact on the illness.

Loop duodeno-enterosomies with sleeve gastrectomy can be safely performed, according to a group of researchers Germany and Poland. The study, ‘Pylorus preserving loop duodeno-enterostomy with sleeve gastrectomy – preliminary results.’ published online in BMC Surgery, concludes that this approach could ‘open new alternatives in bariatric surgery with the possibility for inter-individual adaptation’.

In the paper, the investigators from Silesian Medical University, Katowitz, Poland, the University of Freiburg and University of Schleswig-Holstein, Lübeck, Germany, present their early results of a proximal postpyloric loop duodeno-jejunostomy associated with a laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG), compared to results of a parallel, but distal LSG with a loop duodeno-ileostomy as a two-step procedure.

There is a known link between elevated body mass index (BMI) and symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (OA). While patients who have undergone gastric bypass surgery (GBS)—a procedure that closes off much of the stomach and causes food to bypass a portion of the small intestine—typically lose weight, the comparative impact of this weight loss on knee pain and function has not been measured.

Changes in appetite, taste and smell are par for the course for people who have undergone Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery during which one’s stomach is made smaller and small intestines shortened. These sensory changes are not all negative, and could lead to more weight loss among patients, says Lisa Graham, lead author of a study by researchers from Leicester Royal Infirmary in the UK. Their findings, published in Springer’s journal Obesity Surgery showed that after gastric bypass surgery, patients frequently report sensory changes.

Study shows bariatric surgery provides long-term control of diabetes
Source:Medical Xpress
A study by Cleveland Clinic researchers shows bariatric surgery is a highly effective and durable treatment for type 2 diabetes in obese patients, enabling nearly all surgical patients to be free of insulin and many to be free of all diabetic medications three years after surgery.

The STAMPEDE (Surgical Therapy And Medications Potentially Eradicate Diabetes Efficiently) trial was simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented today at the Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology in Washington, D.C.

Salvage banding is an option after failed bypass
Source:Bariatric News

Bypass patients who have not achieved 50% excess weight loss (%EWL) at two years should consider salvage laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB), according to a study presented by Dr John Loy, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York. The topic was discussed at this year’s Annual Scientific Meeting of the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society in Leamington Spa, UK, from 22 – 24 January.

Banded bypass procedure is safe and may provide better weight loss in super-obese patients, according to a paper, published in Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases (SOARD). The researchers urged further prospective and long-term comparative studies of the banded bypass procedure to confirm its safety and whether it is superior to standard non-banded bypass.

At the French Society Of Obesity – Surgery (SOFFCO) in June 2013, PrChevallier presented the results of randomized controlled trial that revealed the adjustable BIORING gastric ring (Cousin Biotech) is as safe and effective as the LAPBAND ring (Vanguard, Allergan). Bariatric News discussed the study and its results with one of the co-authors of the study(1), Dr Robert Caiazzo from the Centre HospitalierRégionalUniversitaire de Lille (CHRU), France.

Patients who have had bariatric surgery may need to take dietary supplements and pay closer attention to their nutritional intake, a UT Southwestern Medical Center study suggests.

The study, published in the Journal of Investigative Medicine, tracked a group of gastric banding patients and found that despite nutritional counseling over a three-month period, most still did not meet recommended daily requirements for important nutrients such as protein, vitamin D, and calcium.

Patients who are about to undergo bariatric surgery may be better off having a gastric bypass than a sleeve gastrectomy if they also suffer from heartburn, results of a large US analysis suggest.

A review of more than 38,000 bariatric surgery cases found that laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) did not relieve heartburn and may actually have caused gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in some patients. In contrast, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (GB) was associated with GERD relief. LSG was also associated with reduced weight loss if GERD was present.

While weight loss surgery offers one of the best opportunities to improve health and reduce obesity related illnesses, the nearly 100,000 Americans who undergo bariatric surgery each year represent only a small fraction of people who are medically eligible for the procedure. Among those who have surgery, Caucasian Americans are twice as likely as African Americans to have weight loss surgery. On the surface, the data appear to signal racial disparity, but when researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center dug deeper to ask why this variation exists, the answer was more complicated.

Obesity prevalence is the highest it has ever been. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that more than one-third of American adults are affected. And with the increase in obesity comes an increase in the number of weight loss surgery procedures. But how safe are the procedures, and do the benefits outweigh the risks?

Researchers from The Miriam Hospital have published one of the first studies of its kind to follow weight loss maintenance for individuals over a 10-year period. The results show that long-term weight loss maintenance is possible if individuals adhere to key health behaviors. The study is published in the January 2014 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

While many Americans make New Year’s resolutions focused on self-improvement, those who are overweight or obese likely prioritize getting down to a healthy weight. However, these resolutions often focus too much on the aesthetic side of being slimmer instead of the health aspect, leading millions of people to spend an exorbitant amount of money on unproven diet or weight loss products, only to be left disappointed and heavier than they were to start. Often, when board-certified bariatric surgeon Dr. Michael Feiz educates his patients about bariatric surgeries like the sleeve gastrectomy in Rancho Cucamonga, Beverly Hills, or any of his other offices, he emphasizes that maintaining healthy weight isn’t just to look good, but to be healthier.

Quality of life considerations are key when patients consider bariatric surgery
Source:News Medical

While weight loss surgery offers one of the best opportunities to improve health and reduce obesity related illnesses, the nearly 100,000 Americans who undergo bariatric surgery each year represent only a small fraction of people who are medically eligible for the procedure. Among those who have surgery, Caucasian Americans are twice as likely as African Americans to have weight loss surgery. On the surface, the data appear to signal racial disparity, but when researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center dug deeper to ask why this variation exists, the answer was more complicated.

Most severely obese teenagers who underwent bariatric weight-loss surgery (WLS) experienced no major complications, according to a study published by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication.

WLS is being used to treat severely obese adolescents but there are limited data about the surgical safety of these procedures. The volume of adolescent WLS in the United States tripled from the late 1990s to 2003 and shows no decline, according to the study background.

Researchers have previously established that girls have been experiencing puberty earlier over the past few decades. And now, a new study, published in the journal Pediatrics, suggests that obesity is playing a role in this trend.

Experts say that girls who begin puberty earlier are at risk for lower self-esteem, higher rates of depression and lower academic achievement. Additionally, early maturation increases risks for obesity, hypertension and several cancers, including breast, ovarian and endometrial cancer.

New research suggests that the obesity status of a woman may determine the rate of breast cancer cell growth and tumor size. This is according to a study published in the journal Breast Cancer Research.

Obesity is known to be a major risk factor for breast cancer in post-menopausal women, say researchers from the Tulane School of Medicine in New Orleans, LA.

Some people are able to tuck into chocolate every day and not gain weight, while others struggle to keep their weight down regardless of what they eat. Exactly why this is has been unclear, but now researchers point to a genetic mutation as the cause.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UK say that mutation of a gene called KSR2 may cause continued hunger pangs in patients who are obese, as well as slow their metabolism – the rate at which the body burns calories.

Being overweight or obese are risk factors for myocardial infarction (heart attack) and ischemic heart disease (IHD) regardless of whether individuals also have the cluster of cardiovascular risk factors known as metabolic syndrome, which includes high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high blood sugar, according to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

Individuals can lower their risk for colorectal cancer (CRC)—particularly cancers of the colon and especially among men—by increasing recreational physical activity, according to new research. Doing so will also significantly reduce the risk for death in patients who have been diagnosed with the disease.

Excess body weight also negatively affects diagnosis and prognosis. Obese individuals are more likely to be diagnosed with, and more likely to die of, CRC. Moreover, the effect of obesity is independent of treatment complications, meaning that obesity does not appear to negatively affect treatment, but does cause disruptions at a systemic level that treatment cannot overcome.

“Counseling patients to achieve a normal body weight or a more healthy body weight is probably indicated,” said Peter T. Campbell, PhD, a cancer epidemiologist and director of the tumor repository at the American Cancer Society, adding that patients should never lose more than two pounds per week and weight loss in cancer survivors should be achieved through exercise and proper diet.

Researchers believe they have uncovered a biological mechanism through which a common version of an obesity gene drives overeating and weight gain. It appears that the flawed gene, which affects 1 in 6 people, influences production of a hormone that is closely linked to feelings of fullness and how the body deals with food.

Rachel Batterham and colleagues at the UK’s University College London, describe how they found a connection between the FTO gene and the hunger hormone ghrelin in the July 15th issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The Atlantic published a provocative piece by David Freedman that explored the potential benefits of junk food in the fight against obesity. While I readily agree with his principle thesis – that if all of our regularly consumed processed and restaurant foods were replaced with lower- calories versions then, on paper, that ought to help improve our waistline – my struggle stems from the fact that, in practice, consumer psychology is going to play a role. And it would seem that when it comes to dietary decisions, our brains are extremely strange places.

Researchers have tracked thousands of people in the three decades since the mid-1980s to see what effect getting obese might have on their heart risks. They say this is one of the few studies that can give proof of the consequences of long-term obesity.

Follow-up of the 3,275 adults – who were not obese at the start of the research in 1985-1986 – found that those who became obese were more likely to have coronary artery calcification (hardening of the arteries supplying the heart), a problem that can lead to a heart attack.

Obesity has been officially recognized as a disease by the American Medical Association, an action that could put more emphasis on the health condition by doctors and insurance companies in order to minimize its effects.

The new decision was made at the AMA’s annual meeting on Tuesday by delegates in Chicago, and went against a recommendation by a committee that had studied the subject.According to the authors, advances in bariatric surgery have “brought about a paradigm shift in the management of obesity, with benefits extending beyond weight loss”. However, they claim that nutritional deficiencies are “an inherent problem in the postoperative period and oftentimes requires life-long supplementation”. They highlight that Vitamin B12 (or cobalamin) is one of the most common micronutrient deficiencies affecting bariatric surgical patients.

Even though Americans are more physically active now, the rising tide of obesity continues apace, researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington reported in the open-access journal Population Health Metrics.

The authors of the article – “Prevalence of physical activity and obesity in US counties, 2001–2011: a road map for action” – added that some benefits will become evident as more people run, cycle and exercise. There will be fewer people dying or becoming chronically disabled from type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

Obese teenagers who reduced their body mass index (BMI) by 8 percent or more had improvements in insulin sensitivity, an important metabolic factor related to the later development of type 2 diabetes. The teens followed a family-based, lifestyle-modification weight loss program that offers the potential to become a broader model.

A review of available medical literature suggests there is insufficient evidence to support the use of intra-vascular filters or augmented dosing of anti-clotting medication in patients undergoing bariatric surgery to prevent venous thromboembolism (VTE, blood clots), according to a report published Online First by JAMA Surgery, a JAMA Network publication.

Prophylaxis to prevent VTE is recommended for patients undergoing abdominal surgery, according to the study background.

There is not enough evidence to justify widely recommending bariatric surgery such as gastric bypass for patients with moderate obesity and diabetes, according to a systematic review from the RAND Corporation published in JAMA this week.

Although they found that bariatric surgery was linked with better short-term control of abnormal blood sugar and more weight loss, they say the results come from a small number of studies and trial centers and more evidence is needed of how patients fare in the longer term before the approach can be more widely recommended.

Why gastric bypass often results in the rapid resolution of type 2 diabetes is one of the crucial questions in bariatric and metabolic surgery. Now, new data from researchers at Lund University may provide some answers, which could result in new treatments for obesity and diabetes.

Although some 85% of patients with type 2 diabetes who undergo a gastric bypass procedure show a return to normal blood sugar levels within few days of surgery, long before any weight loss, there have been few clues as to why this happens.

Patients undergoing bariatric surgery must be continuously educated on proper nutrition so they can avoid the risk of developing significant vitamin B12 deficiencies, according a study from the University of Connecticut, Farmington.

The research, which is published in SOARD also stated that patients should also learn about the role supplements can play in avoiding catastrophic consequences of nutritional deficiencies.

According to the authors, advances in bariatric surgery have “brought about a paradigm shift in the management of obesity, with benefits extending beyond weight loss”. However, they claim that nutritional deficiencies are “an inherent problem in the postoperative period and oftentimes requires life-long supplementation”. They highlight that Vitamin B12 (or cobalamin) is one of the most common micronutrient deficiencies affecting bariatric surgical patients.

Of the many powers mothers wield, few are more extraordinary than the power to nudge a child’s health prospects in one direction or another simply by having incubated that child in her womb. Research is uncovering more and more instances in which a pregnant woman’s own health issues powerfully influence those of her child. A new study demonstrates this is especially true of her weight status, and shows that weight-loss surgery can change the picture dramatically.

A new Danish study finds individuals who are obese in early adulthood are more than twice as likely to die before reaching middle age and also have a heightened risk for diabetes, potentially fatal blood clots, and heart attack. This discovery was made after researchers followed 6500 Danish men for 33 years.

At the start of the study, all of the men were 22 years old and registered with the Military Board for a fitness test, which determines if a person is suitable for military service. The men who were obese in their 20s were eight times as likely to get diabetes, four times as likely to get a potentially fatal blood clot, and twice as likely to have a heart attack, high blood pressure, or die by the time they were 55.

Further research necessary to fully understand the cause of obesity
Source:Medical News Today

A recent article published in the BMJ reveals that our understanding of what causes obesity may actually be incorrect. The author of the study, Gary Taubes, stresses that if we are to make any actual progress in combating obesity we must further our understanding on what actually causes it. Gary Taubes said: “What we want to know is what causes us to gain weight, not whether weight loss can be induced under different conditions of semi-starvation.”

There have been two different hypotheses about the cause of obesity. The accepted hypothesis since the 1950s is that obesity is caused by overeating, however, there is an alternative hypothesis which states that it is caused by a hormonal imbalance.

Getting white fat cells to burn calories could be way to tackle obesity
Source:Medical News Today

US scientists have discovered a protein switch that decides whether precursor fat cells turn into white fat cells that store calories, or brown fat cells that burn calories. They suggest the fight against obesity and diabetes could learn some valuable clues from studying how this switch works. For example, might it be possible to use it to reprogram white fat cells to behave more like brown fat cells?

Patrick Seale, an assistant professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and a member of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism of at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues, write about their findings in the 14 March online issue of the journal Cell Metabolism.

Obesity, heart disease, and high blood pressure (hypertension) are all related, but understanding the molecular pathways that underlie cause and effect is complicated.

A new University of Iowa study identifies a protein within certain brain cells as a communications hub for controlling blood pressure, and suggests that abnormal activation of this protein may be a mechanism that links cardiovascular disease and obesity to elevated blood pressure.

An Australian study shows that women – but not men – with more abdominal fat are less at risk of bone fracture. This may explain why global rates of fracture are declining at the same time as obesity is increasing.

Abdominal fat is an important risk factor for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and the authors of the study are by no means recommending that women should gain abdominal fat to protect their bones.

(dailyRx News) Surgery to shrink the stomach has typically been reserved for extremely overweight patients having trouble losing the pounds. But new bariatric surgery guidelines suggest that the procedure might not be just for the obese.

Three major medical societies recently revised their guidelines to open metabolic and bariatric surgery to older patients and mild to moderately obese patients. The new guidelines also address how to choose the right surgical method. The changes are based on research done over the last four years to help doctors, surgeons and other health professionals make informed decisions to benefit patients, according to researchers.

Increased sleep could reduce rate of adolescent obesity: Each additional hour of sleep is associated with a lower BMI
Source:Medical News Today

Increasing the number of hours of sleep adolescents get each night may reduce the prevalence of adolescent obesity, according to a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Results of the study show that fewer hours of sleep is associated with greater increases in adolescent body mass index (BMI) for participants between 14 and 18-years-old. The findings suggest that increasing sleep duration to 10 hours per day, especially for those in the upper half of the BMI distribution, could help to reduce the prevalence of adolescent obesity. Full results of the study are available online in the latest issue of Pediatrics.

After decades of achieving little long-term success with medications, Belgian scientists have come up with a new strategy to fight obesity. They’re targeting food sensors in the stomach.

Researchers from the Catholic University of Leuven have reported that the digestive tract “tastes” what a person eats. It uses signalling devices similar to those found in the tongue to detect bitter, sweet, fat, and savoury taste, according to Medical News Today.

Thanks to these mechanisms, the gut release hormones that control blood sugar levels and feelings of being satisfied once food reaches the stomach. A malfunction in the sensors could have a role in developing obesity-associated illnesses.

Patients with Type 2 Diabetes may face an increased risk for Barrett’s Esophagus (BE), regardless of other risk factors including smoking, alcohol consumption, obesity and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), according to research unveiled today at the American College of Gastroenterology’s (ACG) 77th Annual Scientific meeting in Las Vegas.

The study, “Diabetes Mellitus Increases the Risk of Barrett’s Esophagus: Results from A Large Population Based Control Case Study,” suggests that, “if you have diabetes, your risk for Barrett’s esophagus (BE) may be almost doubled ,” said co-investigator, Prasad G. Iyer, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. He said this risk may be higher in men with diabetes likely because men tend to carry more fat in the abdomen compared to women who tend to carry weight around the hips and thighs.

Newswise — TALLAHASSEE, Fla. ⎯ Arturo Figueroa, a researcher in the Florida State University College of Human Sciences, has confirmed with a team of researchers that Nutrisystem, with or without low intense resistance exercise, improves arterial function in obese, postmenopausal women.

In the study, “Effects of Diet and/or Low-Intensity Resistance Exercise Training on Arterial Stiffness, Adiposity and Lean Mass In Obese Postmenopausal Women,” Figueroa and his colleagues were able to demonstrate that a hypocaloric diet may be recommended to reduce the increase in arterial stiffness associated with menopause and obesity. The study was published Jan. 7 in the American Journal of Hypertension.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in postmenopausal women. Risk factors for cardiovascular disease include obesity and hypertension, and are associated with increased arterial stiffness.

Protective association between statin use and esophageal cancer
Source:News Medical

Statins, a cholesterol lowering drug may lower the risk of esophageal cancer, especially in patients with Barrett’s esophagus, Mayo Clinic researchers report in a study being presented at the American College of Gastroenterology annual meeting. There are two main types of esophageal cancer: squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. Barrett’s esophagus, a complication of gastroesophageal reflux disease, raises the risk of adenocarcinoma, the more common type of esophageal cancer. Barrett’s esophagus is a precancerous condition in which the lining of the esophagus, the tube that carries food from the throat to the stomach, is damaged by stomach acid.

In many cases, obesity is caused by more than just overeating and a lack of exercise. Something in the body goes haywire, causing it to store more fat and burn less energy. But what is it? Sanford-Burnham researchers have a new theory – a protein called p62. According to a study the team published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, when p62 is missing in fat tissue, the body’s metabolic balance shifts – inhibiting “good” brown fat, while favouring “bad” white fat. These findings indicate that p62 might make a promising target for new therapies aimed at curbing obesity.

Weight-loss surgical procedures such as stomach stapling and gastric banding reduce the warning signs of heart disease more dramatically than drug treatments and can be life-saving, according to a survey of 73 previous studies.

Weight loss surgery has long-term health benefits lasting well beyond the procedure, new research shows.

While short-term benefits of gastric bypass surgery for obese people are proven — with three quarters of recipients losing at least 20 percent of pre-surgery weight and keeping it off — a new study found long-term improvements in diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol,

Kids born to moms who have lost a substantial amount of weight after undergoing bariatric surgery have fewer cardiovascular risk factors than their siblings who were born before the weight loss surgery.

Gastric bypass surgery is no better at treating diabetes than gastric banding or vertical banded gastroplasty, according to researchers of a large ongoing study known as the ‘Swedish Obese Subjects’ study.

The study found that the improvements to diabetes in weight loss surgery patients was more likely associated with the degree of weight loss rather than the type of weight loss surgery.

The findings suggest it may be possible to minimize genetic risk by changing one’s eating patterns and being vigilant about food choices, in addition to adopting other healthy lifestyle habits, like regular physical activity.

The number of calories people should eat each day depends on several factors, including their age, size, height, sex, lifestyle, and overall general health. A physically active 6ft 2in male, aged 22 years, requires considerably more calories than a 5ft 2ins sedentary woman in her 70s.

Melinda Manore reviewed the evidence surrounding hundreds of weight loss supplements, a $2.4 billion industry in the United States, and said no research evidence exists that any single product results in significant weight loss — and many have detrimental health benefits.

A few products, including green tea, fiber and low-fat dairy supplements, can have a modest weight loss benefit of 3-4 pounds (2 kilos), but it is important to know that most of these supplements were tested as part of a reduced calorie diet.

Weight loss, especially in the belly, is key to improved blood vessel function. The improved blood flow was noted regardless of whether the pounds were shed from a low-fat or low-carb diet.

They evaluated blood vessel health before and after the weight loss program by constricting circulation with a blood pressure cuff for five minutes and measuring the amount of blood that reached the fingertips before, during and after the artery was constricted. Investigators found that participants who lost more belly fat had better blood flow, suggesting better blood vessel function.

Obesity and pain linked, study of one million Americans shows Source:Science Daily

A clear association between obesity and pain — with higher rates of pain identified in the heaviest individuals — was found in a study of more than one million Americans published January 19 in the online edition of Obesity. In “Obesity and Pain Are Associated in the United States,” Stony Brook University researchers Arthur A. Stone, PhD., and Joan E. Broderick, Ph.D. report this finding based on their analysis of 1,010,762 respondents surveyed via telephone interview by the Gallop Organization between 2008 and 2010.

“We wanted to explore this relationship further by checking to see if it was due to painful diseases that cause reduced activity, which in turn causes increased weight,” says Joan E. Broderick, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science and School of Public Health at Stony Brook University, and lead investigator of a National Institutes of Health-funded study on how arthritis patients manage their own pain.

One of the largest studies to investigate lumbar spine disc degeneration found that adults who are overweight or obese were significantly more likely to have disc degeneration than those with a normal body mass index (BMI). Assessments using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) show elevated BMI is associated with an increased number of levels of degenerated disks and greater severity of disc degeneration, including narrowing of the disc space. Details of this study now appear in Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR).

Stress can make you fat – and being obese can create stress. A new hypothesis seeks to explain how.

Diet and lack of exercise are not sufficient to explain the worldwide rise in obesity. Stress is one of many other factors which could contribute, according to human biologist Brynjar Foss from the University of Stavanger.

The researchers review a number of studies, which show that weight gain and cortisol (the stress hormone) levels are noticeably higher in people who became fatter because of stress.

A study published Online First by Archives of Surgery compared the effectiveness of two common forms of treatment for excessive weight gain: Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGBP) and gastric banding (GB). The researchers found that for more sustainable and rapid weight loss, RYGBP is the better form of treatment.

In relation to the treatment of other comorbidities – other existing illnesses among the patients – RYBGP was also found to be more successful. Cholesterol levels in those who received GB remained unchanged, but those who received RYBGP saw a notable decrease. The lipid profile for those after RYGBP was “significantly better” after five years than for those in the GB group, as well as a lower mean fasting glucose level.

Vertical sleeve gastrectomy surgery—more commonly known as the gastric sleeve procedure—restricts food consumption through the removal of 70-85% of the patient’s stomach. The remaining section of the stomach is stitched in the shape of a long tube or sleeve. Unlike gastric bypass surgery, the stomach is still connected directly to the lower intestine so the procedure does not induce malabsorption.
Gastric sleeve surgery often is performed prior to gastric bypass surgery or a duodenal switch procedure to help morbidly obese individuals with the first stage of their weight loss. Because the surgery is performed laparoscopically and does not involve rerouting the intestines, it is generally considered less risky than both the gastric bypass and duodenal switch procedure.

Researchers are learning, however, that the benefits of weight loss surgery (WLS) in obese patients biologically begin prior to dropping the pounds. Two new studies have been released this week explaining the reduction in risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

“It’s clear that weight loss surgery, particularly gastric bypass, has a significant beneficial effect on glucose control,” said Dr Carel le Roux, from the Department of Medicine, who led the study.

A recently published study highlights the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic bariatric surgery on extremely obese patients as well as the outcomes of different surgical approaches.

Although it would seem that the most likely candidates for bariatric surgery are those with the most weight to lose, they often do not qualify for bariatric surgery. Surgery of any type, including bariatric surgery, is generally associated with greater surgical risks in patients with a very high body mass index (BMI), due to technical difficulties and severe weight related comorbidities.

MONDAY, November 7, 2011 — Early signs of childhood obesity could be detected in the weight gains of infants as young as 6 months old, suggests a new study. Babies were twice as likely to become obese by the age of 5, and 75 percent as likely to become obese by the age of 10, if their weight during their first two years jumped up two or more “percentiles,” as measured on growth charts. The charts, called weight-for-length charts, show how an infant’s weight compares to that of other babies of the same length,and are marked with lines that highlight the 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th and 95th percentiles for age and sex.

TUESDAY, November 1, 2011 — Daily exercise reduces the effect that the so-called “obesity gene” has on a person’s chances of becoming severely overweight, according to a new study. The reduced risk appeared to be the same across genders and races among carriers of that version of the gene, but the researchers found that the effect was more pronounced in North Americans than in Europeans.

Weight-loss surgery may help individuals not only shed pounds but improve their memory and concentration. Obese people participating in a new study were tested on their mental abilities. They showed, on average, slightly impaired memory and concentration. Twelve weeks after surgery, subjects’ scores registered in the normal range. Meanwhile, the obese study participants who did not undergo surgery actually showed a decline in their mental abilities over those 12 weeks, but the researchers aren’t sure why this occurred.

Bariatric surgery benefits not just patients, but their family members too

MONDAY, October 17, 2011 — Obese family members of an obese patient who underwent bariatric surgery lose an average of 22 pounds (10 kgs) within a year of the operation, researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine reported in Archives of Surgery this week. The authors explained that bariatric surgery encouraged family members, and not just the patient, to adopt better healthy behaviors.